Tell me about your favorite Alaskan souvenir.
 

What were some of the favorite things you brought home to remember your trip?

Probably the halibut we caught and mailed home. After that, memories and photos.

We love Alaska! I hope you get to see Homer. :)

Bayou, We won't see Homer this time. Next time when I take my children and DH. My itinerary is posted below with "Here's my itnerary, did I miss anything? Any advice?"

I read a post earlier about a knife to look for and remember someone saying the Sea Life Shop had lots of nice things too. I also hope to get to the Alaska Bead store in Anchorage as I make jewelry.

Kristine

My favorite souvenir is probably the ulu knife with a horn handle that I bought in Skagway. Genuine Alaska made. If you get an ulu knife you will also need a cutting board with a curved bowl like surface although you could use an old wooden bowl. Great for mincing herbs/garlic. Also for slicing.
I saw a lot of nice handmade jewelry in Alaska. I thought there must be a lot of beaders. Didn't visit the bead shop in Anchorage but did see the one in Soldotna. A gallery in Homer had some interesting complicated beaded pieces. I got a simple wire-wrapped stone at Malfunction Junction gift shop in Soldotna but there were nicer pieces at the Forest Fair. Hope you see the same vendor.
On an earlier visit I loved a print of Denali with forget-me-knots in the foreground. Also notecards of northern lights photos. The photographer had a short story about where he was when he took each photo. Also enjoy a book by an Alaskan artist about her work. Check museum shops but also Title Wave bookstore in Anchorage for a great selection of books about Alaska and by Alaskan authors. I had to replace my copy of Tish, an autobiography of a young school teacher in the early 1900s, after loaning it out. I'm surprised her story wasn't made into a movie. All about the hardships and prejudice in those days.

My favorite souvenier is a pair of ceremonial dance fans found at the Anchorage Museum of History and Art. They are hand made and serve as a wonderful reminder of the dances performed at the Alaska Native Heritage Center.

In Seward, we picked up three small posters for Raven's Brew Coffee that have since been framed and hang in the kitchen--they are quite the conversational pieces!

http://www.ravensbrew.com/

Seward: the Sea Life Center gift shop had these wonderful etched glass mugs of Moose, Puffins, in deep green, Colbalt blue. They have held up great in the diswasher and were Alaska made.

Anchorage: Tent market -- beaver slippers -- great for anyone who has cold feet. Daughter requested another pair when we go back in 2008. I am getting a pair for myself this time!

Wildberry Chocolates: Buy these just before you leave ... especially the berry or fruit filled ones. They also have a really nice gift shop with lot's of different souvenirs. Here we bought an 5x7 Alaska photo matt -- which made a really frame for our favorite photo to display at a later date. In fact, we bought a nice collage black frame from Kohls, and put the 5x7 matt in the center and then selected other photos to finish the collage. This really made a nice composite summary of our trip.

Kristine, they sell lots of souvenirs at the local WalMart and Fred Meyers stores. Great deals on a lot of it. They also sell ulus, but I don't know anything about quality.

Miss_Maple, your post reminded me that I found a fab necklace at the Anchorage flea market for $5.

What? No one mentioned an oosik? That's a hard one to figure out ....

Author: BayouGal
Date: 07/05/2007, 08:53 pm
Thanks, Repete, you reminded me of the ONE thing I really wished I could have left Alaska with:

Whale baleen
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Baleen.jpg

How awesome it would be to have some found on a beach. It'd be beautiful on my living room wall. :)

I obviously don't understand the edit feature, but I can copy and paste from the posts that come up on the left on the edit screen. It's weird to see your own post show up after you had accidentally closed the whole window. LOL

"that's a hard one to figure out"

Not if you're married to a urologist. :-D